I, like many others, have witnessed a countless number of people using their mobile phones whilst behind the wheel. Whilst campaigns by road authorities and the state and national governments have sought to combat this issue, people still choose to ignore their messages. Just like how there are still alcoholics, heavy drug abusers, rapists, problem gamblers (and the list goes on) no amount of education can make a person abstain from what they wish to do. As such, I feel that complete prohibition is somewhat of an issue, and I will explain why.
As I initially mentioned, I am sure that everyone reading this has seen multiple drivers using their mobile phone at various points in time. Now, consider how hard it is to spot someone doing this, apart from the clearly obvious case of people holding the phone to their ears. How are we to tell the difference between someone looking down at their food, or wallet, or shifter (etc. etc.) and their mobile phone? Whilst we are driving, it is impossible to pay enough attention to what they are doing whilst still driving safely, and this is no different for the police. The only time that it is easy to identify phone use is when stationary, such as at a red light, since you can get a good look.
Now, whilst people who use their phones may not be the sharpest bunch, most aren't stupid, and will know this. As such, if they don't want to get caught, they'll use it whilst moving and not whilst stationary where it is much easier to be identified by law enforcement. Unfortunately, it just so happens that the time when it is least likely to be noticed is also the most dangerous time to use it.
So, my contention is this; in order to prevent people from using their phone at the most dangerous moments whilst driving, then the punishment for using it whilst moving should be increased, whilst simultaneously making use whilst stationary to be legal. Why? Well, because people who are currently using their phones clearly do not take heed to the prohibitionary measures that are currently in place. Obviously, in an ideal world, people should not be using them at all, but that is not that case. However, these people who cannot bare to wait the minutes or hours until their destination to use their device will surely see the logic in waiting mere minutes or even seconds for the next stop light, with knowledge that it is legal, comparative to severe punishments otherwise. This will prevent these people using their phones at the most dangerous times, in an attempt to make it more difficult to catch them.
What do you think? I feel like this is comparative to harm minimisation (i.e providing a "safer" alternative to a dangerous activity where complete abstinence is not working, such as methadone clinics for heroin addicts) and also middle ground tactics (i.e making the legal BAC limit 0.05 as opposed to zero, in the hope it prevents the attitude of "well, driving home will be illegal with only one drink so I may as well go all out")
There is absolutely no reason anybody needs to use a mobile phone while driving.End of story.